0 you who believe! Enter
you one and all into submission wholly and do not follow the footsteps of
Satan; surely he is to you an open enemy. (208) But if you slip after clear signs have come to
you, then know that Allah is Almighty, Wise. (209) Do they await aught but
that Allah should come to them in the canopies of
bright cloud and the angels; and the matter is
decreed away; and all matters are returned to Allah.
(210)

COMMENTARY

These three verses, together with the four that
follow them, guide us as how to preserve religious unity in human society:
To enter into total submission, to limit oneself to the word spoken by
Allah and to that deed whose path is shown by Allah. They declare that
religious unity was never disintegrated, nor was the happiness of both
worlds turned into misery with disaster visited upon the territory of a
people, except when they left submission, manipulated the signs of Allah
by altering them and putting them into the wrong place. This had happened
to the children of Israel and other people, and will surely happen to this
umrah also. But in the end Allah promises them His help,
Surely the help of
Allah is near.

Qur’an: O you
who believe! Enter you one and all into submission
wholly:

silm (submission), islam and taslim all are the same
kaffatan is for emphasis and means 'all', 'wholly'. As the verse is
addressed to the believers, and they are ordered to enter into submission
"wholly" the command covers the whole group as well as every individual.
It is obligatory on each and every believer, as it is on the whole of
Muslim society not to contravene this command and to submit all matters to
Allah and His Apostle. Hence the phrase one and all in the
translation.

Again, as the hearers are already believers the
submission called for means total submission to Allah after believing in
Him. Hence the word wholly in the translation. It follows that the
believers must submit all their affairs to Allah, they should not decide
themselves what was good for them and what was not, they should not
prepare or select any path for themselves without the guidance of Allah
and His Apostle. They must remember that no people were destroyed except
that they followed their own views and desires, and talked without true
knowledge; and no people forfeited the right of life and happiness except
that they became disunited.

It is clear from the above that following the footsteps
of Satan does not mean following him in all the falsehood which he invites
to, because a believer cannot follow Satan in all satanic schemes. Rather,
it means to follow him in the matters of religion. Satan furnishes some
paths of untruth with the signposts of truth; in this way, he puts into
religion what is not from religion. Thus, a believer is deceived into
following that path without realizing his error.

One way of becoming aware of such an interpolation is to
find out whether AM and His Apostle have ever mentioned it in their
teachings of the religion.

The context and words of the verses also show what has
been explained above. "Footsteps" are found in a trodden path. The
believer is proceeding on that path; therefore, it must be the path of
true religion. But Satan has put his marks thereon. So, the footsteps
of Satan should refer to Satanic ways within the highway of true
faith. The believer is obliged to enter into submission. Therefore,
wherever he proceeds without wholly submitting himself to Allah and His
Apostle, it must be in the footsteps of Satan If he goes on to that path,
he is following Satan's footsteps.

This verse is similar to some others. For example:
0 men! Eat of what is in the earth lawful and good,
and do not follow the footsteps of Satan;
surely he is to you an open enemy. He only enjoins you evil and indecency,
and that you should say against Allah what you do not know
(2:168‑169); 0 you who believe! Do not follow the footsteps of
Satan; and whoever follows the footsteps of Satan, then surely he enjoins
indecency and evil. (24:21); Eat of what Allah has given you
and do not follow the footsteps of Satan, then surely he enjoins indecency
and evil. (24:21); Eat of what Allah has given you and do not
follow the footsteps of Satan; surely he is your open enemy.
(6:142). The difference between the verse under discussion and
those quoted above is that this verse addresses the group as a whole, as
it contains the word kaffatan (all, wholly, but those other verses
are general. Accordingly, this verse implies the same meaning as the
verses, And hold fast by the cord of Allah all together and be not
divided. (3:103); And surely this My path is straight one, so
follow it; and do not follow the (other) ways, for they will
scatter you from His path. (6:153).

The verse implies that Islam guarantees that it contains
all kind of laws and knowledge which are needed by the human beings for
their welfare and good.

Qur’an: But if you
slip ... Mighty, Wise:

zallah means a slip, a
falling. The verse says: If you did not enter one and all into submission,
wholly and slipped ‑ and the slip refers to following the footsteps of
Satan ‑ then know that Allah is Mighty, Who is not prevailed upon in His
orders, and Wise, Who decides in your affairs according to His Wisdom.
Thus He shall decide about you according to His Wisdom and shall enforce
it upon you and nobody will be able to hinder it.

Qur’an: Do they
await aught but that Allah should come to them in the canopies of bright
cloud and the angel:

zulal is plural of
zullah which means "anything used for shade", like canopy, awring,
tent. Apparently, the word "angels"
is in conjunction with the divine name "Allah".

'Me preceding two verses were addressed to the believers
(in the second person). This one dramatically changes it to third person
and starts addressing the Apostle of Allah; implying that those who slip
up and follow the footsteps of Satan are not worthy of direct address from
Allah. It appears as though they are awaiting a decree by their following
the footsteps of Satan and by their disunity and division. And that
decree should be that Allah and the angels come unto them in
canopies of cloud, and the matter be decided while they are still unaware
of it ‑ or without having any pity on them and on their plight; and all
matters are returned to Allah; there is no escape from His judgment and
decree.

The context shows that Dothey await aught ...
is the description of the threat implied in the previous sentence,
then know that Allah is Mighty, Wise.

It is self‑evident truth, which is also proved by the
Qur’an and the sunnah, that attributes of the body cannot be used
for Allah, nor can He be described with adjectives of transient things. No
such word, phrase or sentence can be used for Him which implies
transience, need, deficiency or want. Allah says: Nothing whatsoever
(isthere) like the like of Him. (42:11); and Allah
is He Who is Self‑sufficient (35:15); Allah is the Creator of
everything. (39:62) There are numerous such verses; and all of them
are confirmed and decisive ones to which the ambiguous verses should be
referred. It is these confirmed verses which guide us towards the
correct interpretation of the ambiguous ones. If any verse apparently
attributes to Allah an action or a characteristic of transient things,
then it must be referred to the confirmed verses and interpreted in a way
which is not below His dignity nor opposed to His beautiful
names.

Now here is a verse which attributes the action
of "coming" to Allah. A few other verses also have used this word for Him.
And comes your Lord with the angels arrayed in ranks (89:22);
then came upon them Allah from whence they did not expect (59:2);
so Allah came upon their structure from the foundations (16:26). In
all such verses, it is necessary to interpret them with such meanings
which are worthy of Divine sublimity. We may give them the meaning of, let
us say, sending His chastisement upon them, surrounding them with His
power or wrath. Accordingly, the meaning of Allah should come to them
in this verse shall be "Allah should surround them with His
power for enforcing His decree on them".

Further, whenever Allah is pleased to show that
the apparent means and the intermediate causes are not independent of the
order of Allah, He discards attributing the action to such causes and
means; instead He attributes it to Himself or to His order. He says in one
place: Allah takes the souls at the time of their death (39:42);
while in other places He attributes this action to the angel of death
or the angels; Say, the angel of death ... shall cause you to die
(32:11); Until when death comes to one of you, Our messengers
(i.e. angels) take him away (6:61). To make it more clear, look
how He has declared about the angels that: only according to His
command do they act (21:27).

Likewise, He says, Surely your Lord will judge
between them (10:93),and when the order of Allah came,
judgment was given with truth (40:78).

And the same is the case with the verse under
discussion (Do they await aught but that Allah should come to them
in the canopies of bright cloud and the angels) and the verse Do
they await aught but that the angels should come to them or that the order
of your Lord should come (16:33).

The above verse proves that the verse under discussion,
Allah should come, also means "the order of Allah should come".
Likewise, in every place where the action attributed to Allah is
below His power and dignity, we may safely say that the word ,order' or
'command' is implied, as the above verses have shown.

This explanation has been accepted by the
majority of the commentators of the Qur’an and it is correct. But there
is even a deeper and finer meaning which can be understood if
one ponders on the Qur’an.

A characteristic which is accompanied by a deficiency,
want or imperfection is not attributable to Allah. But if that
characteristic could be separated from that deficiency, want or
imperfection, then there is no reason why it cannot be attributed
to Allah, provided it is suitable for His sublimity and perfection. The
word "coming" creates in our mind a picture of a body gradually moving
and shortening the distance between itself and another body till it
reaches quite near to that. If we can remove the material characteristics
from this meaning, there will remain the idea of "nearness", with the
disappearance of any obstruction in between. In that case, it would be
quite correct to use this word for Allah literally, not metaphorically.
Accordingly, Allah should come to them would mean that there would
remain no curtain between His creatures and His judgment about
them.

Anyhow, this verse contains the threat, which was
implied in the preceding sentence, then know that Allah is Mighty,
Wise. This threat may be about the chastisement awaiting them in the
Hereafter, as it is in the similar verse: Do they await aught but that
the angels should come to them or that the order of your Lord should come
(16:33), which, as its context shows, is clearly about the
events of the Hereafter.

Or, it may be about something expected to happen
in this world, as may be seen in the verses of surah Yunus:
so when their apostle came, the matter was decided
with justice, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. And they say,
'when this promise will come to pass, if you are truthful. . .' Say, Do
you see ifHis chastisement overtakes you by
night or by day, what is there of it that the guilty hasten for?
(10:47‑50).The same is the implication of the verses,
30:30‑36, and the verse, How many a town, which was unjust, We
did destroy and We raised another people after it?
(21:11).

The chastisement of this world is because this world is
a fore­taste of the life Hereafter, where every aspect of this world
would appear more perfectly and: completely.

And it is possible that the promised punishment would be
in both worlds together.

In any case, the words, in the canopies of bright
cloud would be interpreted according to the place where the promised
punish­ment would be meted out.

Qur’an: and the matter is decreed away; and all
matters are returned to Allah.: The matter is
decreed away by Allah, but His name is not mentioned to show His
Greatness. There are many examples of such deletion in the
Qur’an.

TRADITIONS

Many traditions have been written concerning verse
2:168 (0 men! Eat the lawful and good things out of
what is in the earth; and do not follow the
footsteps ofSatan ... )
which support the meaning given by us of following the footsteps
ofSatan.

Some traditions say that "submission" means the
love and obedience of the Prophet and his progeny (wilayah) There
is a. tradition from ar‑Rida (a.s.) about the words of Allah, Do they
await aught but that Allah should come to them in the canopies
of bright cloud and the
angels: He said: "Allah says: 'Do they wait aught but that Allah should
come to them with the angels in the canopies of bright clouds'. Like this
it was revealed." And he said, about the word of Allah; And comes your
Lord with the angels arranged in ranks (89:22), that : "Surely, Allah
cannot be described with attributes of coming and going. Elevated is He
from transferring from one place to another. Verily, it means, 'And comes
the command of your Lord with the angels arranged in ranks'." [at‑Tawhid
and Ma’ani al-akhbar]

The author says: The words of the Imam at the beginning
of the interpretation, "Allah says", do not mean the actual word or
recitation of the verse. The word "says" here stands for "means". The
interpretation given in this tradition is the same, which we have already
explained, that "coming of Allah" means coming of His command. The Angels
do whatever they do, and come down whenever they come down, by the command
of Allah. He says about angels: Nay! They are honored servants; they do
not precede Him in speech and (only) according to His commandment do they
act. (21:27), and He sends down the angels with the spirit by His
commandment (16:2).

The verse begins with an interrogation which here stands
for denial and disapproval. It means that "they do not await" or "they
should not await". But some people have said that this denial and
disapproval is comprehensive and refutes not only their awaiting but even
the thing awaited. In other words, it means that they do not await aught
but an impossible thing ‑ that Allah should come to them in the canopies
of cloud as one body comes to another body, and that the angels should
come with Him and He should order them and forbid them. Obviously such a
thing is impossible; and the aim of the verse would be to hint that these
people cannot mend their ways by these exhortations and
sermons.

But this meaning does not agree with the context of the
verse. It has been explained that all these verses have one context.
Therefore, this verse also is about the condition of the believers. And
the believers cannot be condemned in the suggested manner. Apart from that
if Allah had meant to show that the thing awaited was impossible or
beneath His sublimity, He would have followed it with some words to show
that it was so. And we find that it is the custom of the Qur’an everywhere
on such occasions. For example: And those who do not hope of our
meeting say: "Why have not angels been sent down upon us, or (why)
do we not see our Lord?" Certainly they think too high of themselves
and have revolted (in) a great revolt. (25:21); And they
say: “The Beneficent (God) has taken to Himself a son!" Glory be to
Him! (21:26).

Apart from that, what would be, in this case, the
significance of the words, in the canopies of bright cloud? And
what would the subsequent words mean?

OTHER
TRADITIONS

This last verse has variously been interpreted in the
traditions of the Imams of Ahlu l‑bayt as referring to the Day of
Resurrection (al-Ayyashi from al-Baqir – a.s.) or the Day of Return (the
raj'ah) as-Saduqfrom as‑Sadiq (a.s.) or
the Reappearance of Imam al‑Mahdi (a.s.) (al‑'Ayyashi from al‑Baqir [a.s.]
with two chains.)

And there are many such cases where a verse has been
interpreted by them as referring to the Day of Resurrection in one
tradition, and to the Day of Return in another, and to the Reappearance of
Imam al‑Mahdi (a.s.) in yet another one. It is because all these meanings
are interrelated, so much so that they can be said to be basically one. As
the people have not gone deep into the subject of the Resurrection and
have not looked into it in the light of the Qur'an they have gone their
separate ways about these traditions. Some have discarded them altogether,
even though there are probably more than five hundred traditions on its
various aspects; some have interpreted them according to their own views
even though the wordings of the traditions are very clear and explicit. A
third group quotes these traditions and refrains from giving any opinion ‑
these people are the most reasonable of all.

The non‑Shi’ah Muslims believe that Imam al‑Mahdi!
will appear; they have narrated mutawatir
traditions about it from the Prophet, but they
reject the idea of the raj’ah and say that this belief is a peculiarity of the Shi’ah. And in
these days some people, claiming to be Shi’ah, also have rejected this
belief, saying that it has been foisted into Shi’ism by the Jews and some
nominal Muslims like Abdullah ibn Saba and his companions. One of them
tried to refute this belief by intellectual argument, the gist of which is
as follows:‑

"It is a special grace of Allah that a living person is
not given death until he reaches the perfection of the life and all his
potentialities are converted into achievements. If after death he is again
sent back to this world it would be retrogression, a backward step from
accomplishment to potentiality, and it is impossible, except when a
truthful informer tells us about it, i.e., Allah or any of His
Representatives, as He has informed us concerning the events of Musa,
'Isa, Ibrahim (peace be on them all) and others. But we have not, been
told by Win or them anything about ar-raj’ah. And the
evidence put by the believers in ar-raj’ah is not
com­plete."

After saying this he went on to claim about each and
every tradition that it was weak - without knowing the difference between
the correct ones and the defective ones. The poor man did not realize that
this argument is not a rational one at all. Its first part refutes its
second part. If some thing is impossible, by nature it would remain
impossible without any exception. An "impossible" idea would not be turned
into "possible" just because a truthful informer said so. Anybody who said
about an impossibility that it became a possibility, would not be
"truthful". And if he was supposed to be really truthful then that thing
would not have been an impossibility in the first place. Would we say that
he was truthful if he were to say that one is not a half of two, or that a
truthful person was at the same time a liar?

This much about the consistency of his argument. Now, we
come to his argument that (1) All people die when they reach the
perfection of the life, and when their potentialities are converted into
achievements; (2) What has attained achievement cannot be turned back to
potentiality; (3) Therefore, a dead man cannot be returned to this
life.

In this argument, the second
premise is correct; the first is not. It is not "all" people, but only
"some", who die after attaining perfection and converting their
potentialities into achievements. A man, who completes his natural span of
life and dies from old age, may be said to have reached the last stage of
his perfection. But what about another man who prematurely dies of an
epidemic or fatal sickness, or is killed? Can it be claimed that he had
already reached the last stage of his potential perfection? The answer is
'No'. Therefore, it cannot be said that it is impossible for such persons
to be returned to the life of this world. Now it is obvious that his
argument is neither comprehensive nor correct. We can think of many cases
where it might be possible for a dead person (even if he had died after
attaining his perfection) to be sent back to this world; for example, a
man in his first life had a potential for a perfection which was not
available at that time; he died; then by the progress of society, that
perfectness became possible. What is there to prevent his return to this
world to achieve that perfection for which he had a potential in the first
life? Because it will not be a step backward ‑ from perfection to
potentiality.,‑ it will be progress from potential to
perfection.

There are other examples, but this is not the place to
go into the details of this subject.

As regards his argument against individual traditions,
it has two serious defects: (1) These traditions are mutawatir, in
their meaning, from the Imams of Ahlu’l-bayt ‑ so much so that
non­ Shi'ite Muslims have counted the belief of ar‑rajah, from
the very early days of Islam, as one of the special beliefs of the Shi'ah
and their Imams ‑ and a mutawatir matter cannot be refuted even if
the individual traditions be really defective, or weak, or arguable. (2).
There are many verses revealed on this subject and many traditions which
are complete in their meaning and reliable in their chains. We shall
mention them when we come to the relevant verses like: And on the day
when We will gather from every people a party from among those who
rejected Our signs, then they shall be formed into groups (27:83).
There are other verses to prove this belief.

Apart from these specific verses, there are others which
imply this meaning. For example, the words of Allah which come shortly
after the verse under discussion:. Or & you think that you will
enter the Garden while yet has not come upon the like of which came upon
those who have passed before you (2:214). And one of the things which
came upon previous nations was that some of their dead were resurrected,
and lived again in this world, as the Qur’an narrates concerning the
stories of Ibrahim, Musa, 'Isa, 'Uzayr, Armia and others. And the
Messenger of Allah has said: "By Him in Whose hand is my soul! Most
certainly you shall follow the traditions of those who were before you, as
in a pair of shoes the one tallies with the other, and as one flea looks
like another, until you will not miss their path, nor will they miss
yours; (and this means) the traditions of the Israelites.

Moreover, these matters are among the reports of the
great events of the latter days, foretold by the Imams of Ahlul‑bayt; these prophecies were preserved by reporters and narrators
in books which were written and copied centuries before the events; and
every day we see some of its parts fulfilled in exactly the same way
without any addition or subtraction. This compels us to believe that the
remaining part of those prophecies (including ar‑raj'ah) must be
true,

Now we come back to the topic in hand. We were
discussing why a single verse is sometimes explained as referring to the
Day of Resurrection and sometimes as describing ar‑raj’ah or the
reappearance of Imam al‑Mahdi (a.s.). It appears from the characteristics
and details of the Day of Resurrection, mentioned in the Qur'an, that it
will be a day when no intermediate cause will hinder one from the signs of
Allah; there will remain no veil on the face of truth. All illusions will
vanish and the signs of Allah will appear in their perfect
manifestation.

That day could exist side by side with this world, but
it is obvious from the Qur'an and sunnah that human beings, i.e.,
this species of homo sapiens who are descended from Adam and his wife,
will become extinct in this world and only then will this great day dawn
upon them.

The life of this world and the life of the Resurrection
can exist side by side for different groups and species. The life of the
period between death and the Day of Resurrection (barzakh) exists
for our dead side by side with our life on this earth; neither does our
life interfere with theirs, nor theirs with ours. Allah says: By Allah
Most certainly We sent (apostles) to nations before you, but Satan
made their deeds fair‑seeming to them; so he is their guardian today and
for them is a painful punishment (16:63).

This, therefore, is the reality of the Day of
Resurrection, "the Day on which men shall stand before the Lord of the
worlds" "the Day when they shall come forth; nothing concerning them
remains hidden from Allah". That is why sometimes even death is called
Resurrection, because the veil of intermediate causes is lifted from the
imagination of the dead person. 'Ali (a.s.) has said: "Whoever dies his
resurrection begins." This subject will be explained, God willing in its
appropriate place.

The traditions which prove ar‑raj’ahin spite of their large number,
are one in their essence. They show that the world is proceeding towards a
day when the signs of Allah will appear in their perfect manifestation;
man will not disobey Allah, but shall worship Him with a sincere and pure
heart, untainted by the desires of this world; and he will not be deceived
by Satan. At that time some dead persons ‑ some friends of Allah and some
of his enemies ‑ shall be returned to the world again, and the truth will
be separated from the falsehood.

It appears from above that the Day of Return shall be
one of the stages of the Day of Resurrection. But it will be a lesser
manifestation, because there shall remain, at that time, the possibility,
to a certain extent, of evil and mischief, which will be impossible on the
Day of Resurrection

And that is the reason why in some me traditions the
same verses have been said to be related concerning the reappearance of
Imam al‑Mahdi (a.s.). It is because at his reappearance also the truth
will be manifested perfectly, though it will be less than on the Day of
"Return".

There are traditions narrated from the Imam s of Ahlu
‘l baytthat "The days of Allah are
three: the Day of reappearance, and the Day of Return, and the Day of
Resurrection." Some of them say that "The days of Allah are three: the Day
of Death, and the Day of Return, and the Day of Resurrection."

The three days are one in their nature but different in
degrees. It is because of this oneness of essence that
a single verse is at different times interpreted by all three
days.

The above discussion clearly shows that the Day of
Return is not only possible, but a reality; and those who reject it have
no reason to refute it.

1. Abdullah ibn Saba is a mythical personality, who
did not exist outside the
imagination of some
story‑tellers. See 'Abdullah ibn Saba 'wa asatir ukhra
by as‑Sayyid Murtada
al‑Askari of Tehran.

2. ar‑Raj’ah (return)
means that after the reappearance of Imam al‑Mahdi (a.s.) and before the
Day of Judgment some confirmed friends of Allah and some of His confirmed
enemies shall be returned to this world again to live under the rule of
the Representative of Allah.